Time to Shine
Leadership development programme for people wanting to gain experience in the charitable sector, our Time to Shine employees experience fully funded full time work opportunities for a year.
Our focus has been to provide opportunities to under represented groups, including those with disabilities that may have proven a barrier to full time work.
Eve Sample worked as our full time Forest Coordinator through Time to shine and now works with us permanently as a Forest School Assistant.
Eve’s story is inspirational. As an autistic young person, Eve started her Stomping Grounds journey at our RISE youth club, and then went on to become a Young Leader.
When The Rank Foundation funded a full time work placement, Eve was supported to apply and we were delighted to offer her the position.
During the year’s placement, Eve undertook her Paediatric First Aid, Level 1 Forest School training and worked alongside our Lead practitioners. She also worked with our woodland volunteers a day a week to develop Woodland Management skills and with Ruth Thompson and Shannon Berry, 2 local autistic craftspeople, to develop basketry, willow weaving and coppicing skills.
Eve continues to work at Stomping Grounds as a Forest School Assistant, and thanks to Access to Work also receives ongoing support from Ruth to develop her craft.
You can read more about Eve’s story in our Specialist Provision evaluation report (PDF).
Phoebe Tomlinson joined us as our Youth and Digital Youth Engagement officer in 2024
The partnership with TimeToShine and Stomping Grounds has been extremely rewarding for both Phoebe and Stomping Grounds and invaluable to Phoebe’s growth with Stomping Grounds thus far. There is no better person to give insight on TimeToShine than Phoebe herself.
“The fact that TimeToShine has provided equipment that does not come out of Stomping Grounds pocket, nor my own, uplifts the accessibility of being able to accept the job offer. TimeToShine has provided top-quality access to continual professional development as I am new to the third sector and starting my career. There is a bursary to spend on professional development within the third sector, which everyone can apply to. Furthermore, we have three check-ins throughout the year with fifty different leaders and our managers to track our development. We also have four different opportunities to have an ‘action to learning set’ where we present a problem we are facing and have others actively listen to us, helping us to come to a solution. This programme has been invaluable to my learning on the job so far, as well as taking an active interest in my professional development within the third sector”. – Phoebe Tomlinson
Further Information
If you’re interested in supporting one of our projects, please contact helen.haran@stomping-grounds.org
